CHAPLAIN'S MESSAGE

“Call Me When You Need Me”

OR

“I’m Here For You”

            As Chaplains for the Anaheim Police Department, we have been graciously invited to work with sworn officers, non-sworn staff and the public we all serve in bringing a sense of relief, a “diversion” and/or a sense of “God” to any situation to which we may be called.  Some of you may remember Anna McLaughlin referring to the Chaplains as the “God Squad.”  We take that moniker seriously! 

            There are various positions officers take in doing their job and the same can be true of the chaplains.  There is the position of one who takes a position behind a desk or behind the scenes and says, “If you need me, call me!” and there are those who are continuously in the public eye and/or are on the prowl with an attitude of “I’m here for you.”  Some of you have seen the video depicting the Chaplains which deals with some of the situations where we seem to serve the best.  The phrase that is repeated again and again in that video is, “We’re here for you!”  That attitude seems to be the attitude of all of our chaplains. 

            Sometimes, though, we are more in the position of “Call me when you need me.”  Chaplains have full-time work with their particular religious group, sometimes heavy demands, so we are not always dressed and ready for “action.”  Sometimes when we are called our first order of business is to get dressed and comb our hair!  Other times, it’s merely a matter of getting on some article of clothing that identifies us as chaplains and heading for our assigned place.  That’s why you may not see us for a half-hour or so after we’re called.  Sometimes we wish you would “call me when you think you might need me” rather than when you have already determined the need!

            In addition to being available to respond when you need us to help you serve the public, Chaplains are always available to any of you.  The Chaplains are all tied into one primary phone number, a cell phone we share, so those who need us only have to remember or record one phone number.  We want to be here for you!   We try to come with you on ride-alongs, meet you at the local 7-11 for coffee, see you at the police station or a sub-station, see you when you stop by our church facilities for various reasons, chat with you in line at the bank or wave when we see you in a patrol car or standing in a shopping center, grieve with you at funerals, etc.  In these ways “We’re here for you” much as you all are “here” for those in the community who may experience a need for an officer. 

            Thank You—for what you do in our community.  And Thank You—for giving us as chaplains the privilege to serve alongside you:  to help families in crisis because some devastating thing has taken place to them or close to them, to help you as officers on the scene as we serve as a liaison between family members/friends (who have questions and hurts and are in emotional crisis) and you as officers (who have a job to do to investigate a scene or to catch the bad guy), and, sometimes, to serve officers and non-sworn personnel also who are in some of the most gruesome scenes and just need “God” at that moment.  Those are the times, if we’ve been called, we can be “here for you.”